


First Date

by centreoftheselights



Series: Dismantle The Gender Trinary [10]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Agender Virgil Sanders, Anxiety, Beta Patton Sanders, Beta Virgil Sanders, Coffee date, First Dates, Flirting, Fluff, Getting to Know Each Other, Institutional sexism, Jobs, M/M, Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Polyamory Negotiations, Punk Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Relationship Negotiation, Scents & Smells, Trans Man Patton Sanders, mention of abusive relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-21
Updated: 2019-12-21
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:47:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21889918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/centreoftheselights/pseuds/centreoftheselights
Summary: Patton has a really good feeling about this one.
Relationships: Moxiety
Series: Dismantle The Gender Trinary [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1335505
Comments: 20
Kudos: 241





	First Date

**Author's Note:**

> This is the fourth part of the Firsts series of prequels for my Dismantle the Gender Trinary series.
> 
> For newcomers: Patton is a beta trans man, Logan and Roman are his mates. Virgil is an agender beta and uses they/them pronouns.
> 
> Happy Holidays, everyone!

Patton bounced on his heels a little as he stepped onto the sidewalk, checking his watch again even though he knew he was plenty early. He had fifteen minutes to walk two blocks, but it was still a fight not to rush, his heartbeat skipping in his chest with the _pitter-patter-hurry-hurry-hurry!_ of anticipation.

He had a date!

Nothing could put a damper on his mood today, not even the overcast October skies. Patton all but danced down the street, smiling at every person he passed, until he turned the corner and –

There they were. _Virgil_.

From this distance, they looked fierce: a punk with purple-streaked hair, a battered black leather jacket dotted with studs, and a thick-soled pair of combat boots. If Patton hadn't known them, he might have expected them to be rude or aggressive.

But Virgil was anything but. They'd been hanging out at the local Trans Meetup nights for a couple of months now, and at first – Patton had never known someone so tough-looking act so shy! But when you got them talking, Virgil was bold, caring and incredibly witty in a “dark humour” kind of way. Patton had only ever seen them lose their temper once and – well, while that hadn't been pleasant, even then it had been in defence of someone else. Kinda.

So Patton had worked up the courage to ask if they could hang out one-on-one, and Virgil had agreed! Now, as they saw Patton headed towards them, a soft smile curled across their face and they gave a small wave before quickly shoving their hand back into their locket and hunching down into their heavy jacket.

“Hey, you!” Patton was beaming from ear to ear. “I guess you managed to find the place okay, then?”

“Yeah, can't say I've been here before.” Virgil frowned up at the sign. “The… Back-aff?”

“Bakafé!” Patton corrected. “Get it, cause it's a bakery and a café!”

“Oh!” Virgil's eyes lit up with understanding, and they chuckled. “Okay, I like it. But aren't most café's kinda… bakeries too?”

“Maybe a bit. But this one does really tasty food, trust me, you're going to love it!”

“Lead on, then.”

Virgil held the door open for Patton, apparently without even thinking about it, and Patton melted a little bit. He and Virgil approached the counter, cabinets piled high with all sorts of goodies in a wide assortment of flavours.

“We gonna get something to share?” Patton offered automatically. “I mean – uh, we don't have to…”

“No, that sounds great. How about…” Virgil's eyes rake over the treats on offer. “A S'mores cookie?”

“Really?”

“What, you were expecting something darker?” Virgil joked.

Patton chuckled, but he honestly was surprised that Virgil went for something so sugary. He'd always assumed that Virgil was more of a dark chocolate type, given – well…

It was an old superstition that a person's scent was tied to their personality, or that the way someone smelt to you foretold how suited you were to each other romantically. But Virgil smelled like dark chocolate, rich and smooth, right on the edge of melting in the pan as Patton started to make a tray of brownies…

It was one of Patton's favourite scents.

“Now you know my secret,” Virgil said solemnly. “I have a huge sweet tooth.”

“Okay, so we'll take a S'mores cookie, warmed up please? And a white hot chocolate, and –”

“A pumpkin spice latte.” Virgil wore a flat expression, as though they were daring Patton to comment.

“… and a pumpkin spice latte, thank you!”

Virgil frowned a little when Patton handed over his card to pay, but they didn't say anything. Patton hoped that wasn't a bad sign.

The two of them settled themselves into a table by the window, waiting for their order to be called. Patton took off his jacket, quickly smoothing his hands over the blue plaid shirt he was wearing underneath. It felt silly worrying about his appearance when they already knew each other, but – when he looked closely, he was pretty sure that Virgil's hair was freshly re-dyed, and they were wearing eyeliner in addition to their usual dark eyeshadow.

“So,” Patton said with a smile. “How are things with you? You work at a record store downtown, right?”

“Yeah, I uh… I actually own it, kinda?” Virgil bit their lip, looking down. “It's not really a big deal –”

“You own your own business?” Patton's eyes grew wide. “Wow, that must be a lot of hard work. How'd you get started doing that?”

Virgil smiled gratefully.

“Mostly by accident? I got a job there – thought I wouldn't last two weeks, I kept getting fired from places cause I wouldn't let customers misgender me – but the old manager, Larry, he actually took my side. Kinda took me under his wing, helped me get my shit together after a rough couple of years when I first moved out on my own. When he told me he couldn't keep the store afloat any more I was heartbroken, so I started researching things he could do to give the place an edge and… he said if I cared that much, I could make a go of it myself. He started training me up to take over the next day, and I officially bought him out last year.”

“That's amazing! Larry sounds like an incredible friend.”

Virgil smiled. “Yeah, he's pretty great. We still hang out, he and his pack have me over for dinner. And the store's doing pretty good too, even if it's a lot of hard work to keep it that way. What about you, where do you work?”

“I'm a receptionist at a health clinic. It's really great, getting to help people, but…” Patton made a hand-wavey gesture. “It's stressful, having to deal with people so quickly and then hand them off. It's a lot better than the first couple of places I worked –”

“Oh?”

Patton grimaced. “Big businesses. I thought I might be able to climb the career ladder, but it was pretty clear that they just wanted a pretty face at the front desk. At least the clinic lets me use my brain, but I'm not sure I'm going to stick with it long-term.”

“So what do you want to do instead?”

Patton shifted in his seat. This news was still fresh and exciting to share.

“I might be able to, uh… quit working?” He smiled. “Logan, my mate, he just landed this great job at the university as a researcher. Now that he's going to be earning a decent salary, we've been talking about, in a few months, me maybe retiring?”

Virgil's expression turned pinched and stony.

“Logan. He's –?”

“Tall, glasses, curly black hair?” Patton prompted. “He's not… Roman, was the one you met.”

'Met' was one way of putting it. At the Trans Meetup Open Day/Barbecue that summer, Roman had flirted a little with Virgil and been shot down… only for Virgil to later see him talking to Patton and leap to Patton's defence, launching a flood of invective at Roman for “harassing” betas. Roman had gotten defensive, and – well, it hadn't exactly been anyone's proudest moment.

“Well, I'm happy that Logan is doing well,” Virgil said with a small, only slightly awkward smile. “But are you sure you want to quit? What are you going to do all day?”

“Are you kidding? I'll be able to do anything!” Patton beamed. “I can cook, I can garden, I could go climbing or visit my sister or – well, honestly anything that isn't being stuck in a boring back office for eight hours!” He shook his head. “I know lots of people love their work, but I've never been one of them. And if I didn't have to worry about money, I'd love to get involved more in volunteering – join the organising committee for the meetups, or maybe do some kind of mentoring program…”

“Outreach stuff?” Virgil raised an eyebrow.

“Exactly!” Patton clapped his hands. “I mean, I had a relatively easy time of it when I was a kid, but it was still _scary_ , coming out, trying to figure out what I was feeling without anyone there to help me. I don't want any kiddos to have to feel that way, I want to be there to help them! But I wouldn't feel right getting paid for something like that, even if that was a thing.” He smiled sheepishly. “Sorry, I didn't mean to go on a ramble…”

“No, no, I get it,” Virgil said. “Sometimes it's like – there's so much bullshit society tells us to care about, and when you see someone being strung along by some stereotype or ridiculous unrealistic expectation, you just want to shake them and tell them to snap out of it!”

Patton giggled. “Metaphorically speaking?”

Virgil gave him a wicked grin. “It depends on the person. Some people deserve a good shaking.”

“Oh!” Patton tried not to laugh, he really did, but he couldn't help it. “Oh, goodness, you really shouldn't!”

“Trouble is my middle name.”

“Is it really?”

“No,” Virgil admitted. “But that would have been really cool, I wish I'd thought of that when I named myself.”

“Mine is Jacob.” Patton replied. “I kinda picked Patton because it sounded like… well, it was easier for people to switch if I was still just Pat! And I like it now, but I do kinda wish I'd been a little braver. Jacob was – it's a variant of James, see, and that was my Pop's grandfather's name, and I don't know, maybe in another world I'm Jacob?”

“That's sweet.” Virgil took a long, slow breath. “My middle name is Hades.”

Patton's brain came screeching to a halt, as he became deeply, painfully aware of the fact that he _absolutely could not laugh_ – which he didn't even _want_ to, except now there was this _tension_ in the air and it was making him want to laugh it off –

“That's a cool name! Like the Disney movie?”

“I wish I could say no, I'm a big mythology geek,” Virgil deadpanned, “but yeah, it's mostly from the Disney movie.”

“Oh, Roman would love that! He's a huge Disney fan.”

A frown passed across Virgil's face again – but before Patton could say anything about it, their order arrived, and the moment of concern got lost in the kerfuffle.

Still. There was something there that Patton knew couldn't stay ignored for long.

***

Virgil had a problem.

Patton was sat opposite him, with that uneven splash of freckles across his nose, that easy smile and those thick, cloud-like curls. His deep brown eyes were bright with energy, and he gestured with his hands as he explained the plot of some sitcom in between bites of cookie. At some point, he'd gotten a streak of marshmallow smeared on his cheek, and as Virgil gestured towards it he giggled again, a faint flush of pink creeping across his dark skin. Patton was the kind of cute that didn't play fair, the type of man who could make Virgil start to hope –

But hope was a dangerous thing. And really, by now, shouldn't Virgil know better?

“So,” Patton said, “I was thinking we should have a talk about expectations?”

And there it was. Something in Virgil's stomach twisted and crumpled in on itself, all their tentative hope turned tight and anxious. It had been a fun hour playing pretend, but now they had to return to reality.

And the reality was that Patton wasn't going to date someone like them. Not without… caveats.

“What kind of expectations?” they asked, trying to keep the bitterness out of their voice. It wasn't Patton's fault things were this way, wasn't Patton's fault that the unfairness of it all made Virgil want to scream.

Patton winced a little.

“Listen, you know I have mates. And I just wanted to make it clear –”

Patton was in a pack. And packs were a one-size-fits-all kinda deal that Virgil didn't fit. They braced themselves for the inevitable: _if you're dating me, you're dating them too_.

“- they aren't your problem.”

Wait. What?

“I mean, if you're interested, that's great! I'd love for you guys to hang out and get to know each other! Roman and Logan are great guys and I think you might like them if you gave it a chance – but you don't have to. Give them a chance, I mean. You can just be dating me, without my pack being a part of that relationship.”

Virgil blinked at him.

“… Really?” they asked, and they hated how pathetic they sounded, but they couldn't quite believe what Patton was saying. “They wouldn't… feel left out?”

“What they think isn't your problem, it's mine,” Patton said firmly.

“And you're… okay with that?”

Virgil bit their lip in concern, but Patton seemed completely calm and care-free.

“Yep!” he said, popping the 'p' sound. “But there is one condition.”

Here it was…

“You have to accept that they're a part of my life, even if they're not going to be a part of yours,” Patton said. “You don't have to keep flinching every time I mention them, okay?”

Virgil tensed.

“I know you and Roman didn't have the best start, but it kind of seems like there's more to it than that?” Patton sighed. “I love them, and I'm not planning on leaving them any time soon. Can you just trust that I'm smart enough to make that decision for myself?”

Virgil recoiled a little at that.

“I didn't –” They stuttered. “It wasn't because –”

“It's okay,” Patton said gently. “You don't have to say anything more about it, just… work on it? Please?”

Virgil nodded, guiltily.

It wasn't like they didn't think Patton could handle themselves. Only… well, they really couldn't imagine an alpha who didn't treat betas like trash. If they weren't out harassing singletons to join their pack, they were using their mates as domestic slave labour, or forcing them into having dozens of kids for the sake of the alpha's status and pride. Packs were a sexist mechanism that allowed alphas to take advantage of everyone around them, betas most of all. How could any beta be happy in a system like that?

But here was Patton. Mated to an alpha, and happy about it. It didn't make any sense.

… And it didn't have to. Patton was right, Virgil needed to trust him to know his own life. If Patton said his alpha was different then… well, Virgil didn't entirely believe it. But who knew, perhaps their mates really were exceptional? After all, Patton certainly was.

And they would try their hardest to believe him. They just hoped that it wasn't too late, that Patton didn't already hate them. Perhaps, after he let them down gently, they'd still be able to salvage a friendship out of this…

“Oh, and try not to pick a fight with Ro next time you see him?” Patton asked. “I mean, if we keep doing this, you two are bound to run into each other socially from time to time…”

Virgil knew that the first part of that request was the important one, but they were very distracted by the second part.

“If we keep doing this?” they repeated.

“Yeah, I mean –” Patton looked flustered. “Not that we have to! I just thought, you know, that you might want to, cause I had a really good time and so I guess –”

Virgil couldn't have kept the smile off their face if they'd tried.

“Yeah,” they said softly. “I'd love to see you again sometime.”

“Oh.” Patton said, his ramble coming to a halt. “Neat.”

With a sudden burst of courage, Virgil reached across the table and grabbed his hand. Patton's eyes widened, and he squeezed back, smiling ear to ear.

“So,” Virgil said, “what was that show you were telling me about? The police one?”

“Brooklyn Nine-Nine!” Patton said. “Anyway, so I think you'd really enjoy it, even though I'm guessing cops aren't really your thing –”

Virgil sat and watched him talk, bathing in the glow of Patton's happiness, their hands still linked together all the while.

Okay. Maybe this was worth a little bit of hope.


End file.
